Seeing everyone staring at him, Yi Zhonghai felt a headache coming on. He had originally thought that with the deaf old lady's help, no one would know what had happened back then. But unexpectedly, Sha Zhu still found out about what happened back then.
Judging from Sha Zhu's appearance, he didn't seem like he would let things go easily. To protect himself, Yi Zhonghai had no choice but to tell the whole story.
"Zhu Zi, please forgive us! I'll tell you everything you want to know, just please don't call the police. We'll settle this in the courtyard. I'll tell you everything you want to know."
"Then tell me everything you know. Don't forget about Qin Huairu's schemes against me."
Hearing Sha Zhu's words, Qin Huairu finally understood why Sha Zhu had beaten her up. Thinking about how her years of planning had all been in vain, Qin Huairu felt somewhat discouraged.
Qin Huairu could only keep comforting herself. Anyway, she didn't like Sha Zhu, so this wouldn't ruin her reputation. As long as she and Jia Dongxu were willing to work hard, they would definitely be able to live a good life.
No one in the courtyard paid attention to Qin Huairu's changing expression. All eyes were on Yi Zhonghai. Seeing the situation was unfavorable, the deaf old woman seized an opportunity to hide. But even hiding made her uneasy.
The deaf old lady knew that after this incident, she could no longer pretend in the courtyard. Not only would Wei Hua despise her, but even Sha Zhu would despise her.
Knowing Yi Zhonghai's personality, he wouldn't hide anything from him. He'd become a universally disliked figure. Fortunately, Yi Zhonghai wasn't stupid; he knew some things could be said and some couldn't. After Sha Zhu nodded in agreement, Yi Zhonghai told him everything.
“Zhu Zi, I’ll tell you everything now. Your father left Beijing because of his background. Tan Family Cuisine is also known as the cuisine of the second-place scholar, and those who have access to this cuisine are all high-ranking officials and nobles. Your family’s background is not as simple as it seems on the surface. Not only has your family produced imperial chefs, but they have also cooked for many high-ranking officials and nobles. Your father was even a chef for a high-ranking Japanese official.”
"That's why He Daqing had to leave his hometown. I had a pretty good relationship with He Daqing. When he left, he entrusted me to take care of you two siblings."
“I knew He Daqing was going to send you child support, so I got greedy. So I secretly asked the deaf old lady to help me get a certificate. I didn’t take all of your child support; the deaf old lady got half of it too. We split the 10 yuan into 5 yuan each.”
"The reason He Daqing doesn't dare to see you is because the deaf old lady wrote him a letter saying that the neighborhood committee is investigating what happened back then. He Daqing was so scared that he's been hiding in Baoding. Let alone seeing you, He Daqing doesn't even know you've gone. Even if you do find him, he won't dare to have anything to do with you. Once the old things are brought up, it won't just be him who suffers."
"Qin Huairu's matter was also a scheme between me and the Jia family. We knew you had a skill, and once you reached a certain age, the neighborhood committee would definitely arrange a job for you. In order to make you more grateful, the deaf old lady even deliberately asked Director Wang to delay your job. Knowing that you appreciated our kindness, she asked Director Wang to give you the job."
"We're deliberately making everyone ostracize you, and then we'll slowly help you out. That way, once you have a job, you'll remember our kindness. No matter what you do in the future, you'll always be on our side."
Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, Sha Zhu burst into tears, and cried bitterly. Men don't easily shed tears, unless they are truly heartbroken.
Even though he already knew it was true, Sha Zhu still came to Qin Huairu's side with tears streaming down his face.
"Qin Huairu, I now demand that you tell me. What exactly happened with those five cornbread buns back then? If you dare to lie to me, I will absolutely not let your family get away with it. I just want to know the truth about what happened back then."
"It's fine if you don't tell me, since you're not the only one who knows about this. As long as you tell me, I can forgive and forget about all the past grievances. I just want to know if you're lying to me?"
Qin Huairu is a smart woman. Since Yi Zhonghai has already revealed everything, it doesn't matter much whether she says anything or not.
“Zhu Zi, I’m sorry. You know the situation of our Jia family. Not long after I gave birth to Bang Geng, the Wei family gave you five steamed buns, but they were exchanged for five cornbreads.”
Upon hearing Qin Huairu's words, Sha Zhu suddenly laughed. But his laugh was more like a grimace. Sha Zhu never imagined he would become a plaything in the courtyard house.
This made Sha Zhu, who thought himself clever, slap himself several times. If He Yushui hadn't pulled his brother back in time, who knows how badly Sha Zhu would have slapped himself?
"Brother, please stop doing this. It's not too late for you to know everything now. From now on, we siblings should just live our own little lives and stop worrying about the troubles in the courtyard house."
"Hahaha! I thought I had seen through the whole thing about the courtyard house. Who knew it was all a scheme set up by someone else? I was so stupid to think I was a smart person."
"Yi Zhonghai, tell me now, why is the Jia family trying to sow discord between me and the Siheyuan? Is Jia Dongxu acting on your orders to deliberately drive a wedge between me and Xu Damao?"
Upon hearing Sha Zhu's words, Yi Zhonghai hesitated slightly. Ultimately, he decided whether or not to involve Jia Dongxu.
“Dongxu is my apprentice, so naturally I arranged for him to do these things. The reason I wanted to sow discord between you and Xu Damao is simply because I don’t want you to have any friends in the courtyard. Xu Damao is a rare sensible person in the courtyard. As long as I sow discord between you and Xu Damao, he won’t remind you from the sidelines.”
“The Xu family has never gotten along with us. You are just a teenager, so you are no match for the Xu father and son. Given their character, they will definitely not let you go. This way, we can both suppress the Xu father and son and make you think of our past relationship.”
"Based on our kindness to you, we can get Qin Huairu to trick you into doing things that we can't do ourselves. For example, taking action against other people in the courtyard who are at odds with us."
Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, Sha Zhu sat down on the ground and cried like a child.
Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, the others immediately distanced themselves from the elderly care group. No one wanted to live under someone else's schemes.
Yi Zhonghai's words caused many people to despise him. No one expected that the previously sanctimonious Yi Zhonghai would do so many immoral things. Even Qin Huairu was despised along with him.
Now everyone understands why Sha Zhu was so ruthless towards Yi Zhonghai. If it were them, they might have done even worse. Those who initially sympathized with Yi Zhonghai now only feel that he deserved it.
This caused many people who originally disliked Sha Zhu to suddenly feel a pang of sympathy for him. Even Xu Damao walked over to Sha Zhu and patted him on the shoulder.
This was the first time Xu Damao had shown kindness to Sha Zhu since he learned the truth.
"Shazhu, it's not too late to know the truth now. Now that you see the true nature of the people in the courtyard, you won't make the same mistake again. The most important thing now is to extort a large sum of money. Everyone in this world can betray you, but money will never betray you. With money, you can have whatever you want."
Hearing Xu Damao's words, Sha Zhu stopped crying. Sha Zhu could lose face in front of everyone else, but he would never lose face in front of Xu Damao.
“Yi Zhonghai, you’ve been receiving child support for seven years. 120 yuan a year, that’s 840 yuan for seven years. My demands aren’t high. You and that old hag will pay me back double. If you agree, pay me now, and we’ll never see each other again. If you don’t pay, you and that old hag will be in jail.”
“800 yuan is enough for you to spend your whole life in jail. If you don’t see 1680 yuan by tomorrow night, I’ll go to the police station to report you first thing the day after tomorrow. The post office keeps records of every time you withdraw money. And there are so many people in the courtyard who can testify for me. I don’t believe you two have the ability to cover this up.”
After finishing his sentence, Sha Zhu grabbed his sister's hand and went back home. He didn't even glance at Qin Huairu as he left. He only thanked Wei Hua as he passed by.
Sha Zhu's inexplicable words drew the attention of Yi Zhonghai and the entire retirement faction to Wei Hua. It was obvious that Wei Hua had played a crucial role in this matter.
Yi Zhonghai's eyes were filled with malice as he looked at Wei Hua.
"What are you looking at? I'm the one who told Sha Zhu about it. What can you do to me? If you don't want people to know, then don't do it in the first place. Our two families have been enemies ever since you took my house last time."
"I happened to run into Huang Xiaojuan picking up a registered letter today. I chatted with the postman for a bit, and who would have thought I'd discover such a big secret."
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